HEALTH Issue
A SERIOUS VETERANS’
DENIED MENTAL-HEALTH CARE – BECAUSE DVA IS PAYING There are rumours in the veteran community that some health-care providers, including psychiatrists, are refusing to see military veterans as patients. Recently, I found out the hard way that the rumours are true.
It took me a very long time to admit that I might need to see a psychiatrist. When I did ‘give in’ at the urging of friends and family, I went to my GP to get a referral to a psych who was recommended by a friend. With the GP’s referral in hand, I further procrastinated for months before eventually ringing for an appointment – only to be told that this doctor wasn’t taking on any new patients and hasn’t for more than four years. Disappointing, but OK. More weeks passed before I went back to the GP for a new referral – this time to someone she recommended – “I think you and he will get on well from an age and personality point of view,” she said. Cool. Now, I know that DVA and the minister are keen to advertise, “if you have had full-time service in the ADF, you are eligible to receive treatment for any mental health condition” – and DVA “covers the entire cost of your treatment for any mental-health condition” – I see it repeated over and over in their press releases. But when they say it, they never mention any ifs, buts or maybes – no caveats – a whole new attitude towards veterans’ entitlements and easier access to mental-health care. To underline this new attitude, when I filled out the appropriate DVA form and sent it off, approval came back within 20 minutes!!! 68
Awesome. Confidence building. Now I’m fully convinced I need and even want to go. I’m committed. I’m determined. No more procrastinating. So I ring the second psychiatrist’s office the same day and ask nicely for an appointment. I was told the next available appointment was in April – but that was fine with me because I was about to go on holidays. As requested, I immediately emailed them my GP referral – along with DVA’s agreement to pay. Two days later, the psychiatrist’s secretary rings back and says, “I’m very sorry, but Dr XXX is unwilling to take on any new DVA patients at this time”. I asked why, but she could only repeat the message. Gobsmacked. Upset. Deflated. Set back. I thought about this for a while. Calmed down. And came to the conclusion that maybe it isn’t just this doctor. What if this is a bigger issue? And what if a suicidal veteran or ‘emergency case’ was told ‘no veteran’s allowed’? So I went looking for answers. I posed a range of questions to the Department of Veterans’ Affairs, a separate set of questions to the Australian Medical Association, and formally offered the doctor a chance to also clarify his position. The AMA responded within 24 hours – the doctor an hour after that – and DVA – well it was 69 hours later, and 17 hours after the deadline I gave them. CONTACT Air Land & Sea – Issue 57 – March 2018